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1851 

Dickinson,  Richard 

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1874. 

The 

Church  of 

Christ 

THE    CHURCH    OF   CHRIST 


^  Siscottrsc 


RICHARD  W.  DICKINSON,  D.D. 


/ 

Eli  KvQiogj  [x[a  nlang^  %v  ^amiafia. 


NEW    YORK: 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER.  145  NASSAU  STREET. 

1851. 


Lancaster,  May  13,  1851. 

To  the  Rev.  R.  W.  DickixNson,  D.D. 

Rev.  and  Dear  Sir — The  undersigned,  members  of  the 
Presbyterian  congregation  of  the  city  of  Lancaster,  having 
listened  with  great  interest  to  the  discourse  preached  by 
you  on  last  Sunday  morning  at  the  dedication  of  their  new 
church  edifice,  and  believing  that  the  views  set  forth  are 
strictly  in  accordance  with  the  teachings  of  the  Bible,  do  most 
respectfully  request  that  you  will  furnish  them  with  a  copy 
for  publication. 


GEORGE  S.  BRYAN, 
ROBERT  D.  CARSON, 
MILLER  TRAIM, 
SAMUEL  HUMES, 
CHARLES  M.  HOWELL, 
ROBERT  MODERWELL, 
HUGH  S.  GARA, 


CHARLES  BOUGHTER, 
JOHN  REYNOLDS, 
H.  M.  CHEVE, 
JAMES  B.  LANE, 
JOHN  MILLER, 
D.  W.  PATTERSON, 
JAMES  EVANS. 


New  York,  May  24th,  1851. 
Gentlemen — 

Aside  from  the  importance  of  making  known  the  reasons 
for  our  Church  polity,  it  is  greatly  to  be  desired  that  these 
reasons  should  be  better  understood  by  all  professing  the 
Presbyterian  faith ;  and  as  you  have  placed  so  high  an  esti- 
mate on  my  discourse  in  expressing  your  conviction  that 
"  the  views  set  forth  are  strictly  in  accordance  with  the 
teachings  of  the  Bible,"  I  cannot  refrain  from  acceding  to 
your  wishes.  The  occasion  on  which  it  was  delivered,  was 
fraught  with  the  deepest  interest  to  my  mind ;  and  I  trust 
its  publication  will  tend  to  subserve  the  welfare  of  a  church 
to  which  it  was  once  my  privilege  to  ministel-. 

Yours,  in  the  bonds  of  Christian  fellowship, 

R.  W.  DICKINSON. 

To  Messrs.  Bryan.  Carson,  and  others. 


THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST. 


"  And  He  is  the  head  of  the  body— the  Church."— Col.  i.  18. 

What  homage  is  due  to  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ ;  what  deference  to  his  authority ; 
what  confidence  in  his  sufficiency  to  save 
even  to  the  uttermost  I  Who  that  respects 
the  teachinsfs  of  Revelation  can  fail  to  ascribe 
unto  him,  all  glory  and  honor,  dominion 
and  power,  thanksgiving,  and  blessing,  and 
praise  ?  The  head  of  all  beings,  in  virtue 
of  having  created  them,  so  is  He  the  head  of 
his  people,  in  virtue  of  having  redeemed 
them ;  "  for  it  pleased  the  Father  that  in 
him    should    all    fulness   dwell,"    that   He 


mio^ht  be  the  head  of  the  new  as  well  as  of 


the  old  creation. 

Without  further  preliminary,  let  it  be  con- 
1* 


b  THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST. 

sidered,  that  his  title  as  head  of  the  Church, 
is  founded  in  the  right  of  redemption,  so 
that  in  all  things  "  He  might  have  the  pre- 
eminence." Hence  we  read  :  "  The  Church 
of  Grod  which  he  hath  purchased  with  his 
own  blood." — "  We  are  come  to  the  Church 
of  the  first  born." — "  Christ  loved  the  Church, 
and  gave  himself  for  it,"  "  that  he  might 
present  it  to  himself  a  glorious  Church,  not 
having  spot  or  wrinkle,  or  any  such  thing." 

The  Church,  therefore,  comprises  the 
whole  number  of  the  redeemed  and  sanctified 
from  among  the  children  of  men.  As  invisi- 
ble, it  comprises  those  alone  who,  called  of 
Grod  into  the  fellowship  of  the  gospel,  are 
united  to  Christ  by  a  living  faith  ;  but  as 
visible,  it  embraces  all  those  over  the  face  of 
the  earth  who  profess  to  believe  in  Christ,  and 
acknowledge  him  as  their  Saviour  and  Head — 
"  unto  which  Christ  has  given  the  ministry, 
oracles  and  ordinances  of  G-od  for  the  gath- 
ering and  perfecting  of  the  saints  in  this  life, 
to  the  end  of  the  world." 

In  the  latter,  there  may  be  more  or  less 


THE     CHURCH     OF     CHRIST.  7 

ignorance,  error,  and  worldliness — the  tares 
and  the  wheat  growing  in  the  same  field  ; 
but  the  former,  though  not  free  from  sin, 
is  nevertheless  holy  unto  the  Lord, — all  its 
members  having  been  born  of  G-od,  and 
being  sanctified  through  his  truth.  The  one, 
distinguishable  as  any  human  society  by 
the  names,  regulations,  meetings  and  doings 
of  its  members,  falls  under  the  cognizance  of 
the  senses ;  but  the  other,  neither  separated 
from  the  world  in  respect  to  place,  nor  distin- 
guished from  the  world  by  outward  appen- 
dages, is  spiritual  in  its  nature,  qualifica- 
tions, and  exercises,  and  is  known  with  un- 
erring certainty  only  by  Him  who  "  search- 
eth  the  heart  and  trieth  the  reins  of  the 
children  of  men."  This  is  that  Church,  to 
which  all  the  promises  of  G-od  are  made ;  in 
which  he  dwells  by  his  life-giving,  peace- 
speaking,  purifying,  transforming  Spirit-^ 
even  that  body  of  which  Christ  is  the  head. 

Used  in  a  restricted  sense,  the  term 
Churchy  refers  to  a  company,  of  Christian 
believers  with  their  children,   associated  and 


8  THE    CHURCH     OF    CHRIST. 

meeting  together  in  one  place  for  the  solemn 
worship  of  G-od ;  or  "a  congregation  of 
faithful  men  in  which  the  true  word  of  Grod 
is  preached,  and  the  sacraments  duly  admin- 
istered according  to  Christ's  ordinances,  in 
all  those  things  that  of  necessity  are  re- 
quisite to  the  same."  Hence,  we  read  of  the 
messengers  not  of  the  Church,  but  ''of  the 
churches,"  and  of  "  the  churches  which 
were  in  Christ ;"  of  "  the  seven  churches 
which  were  in  Asia  ;"  the  churches  which 
were  in  Galatia ;  the  churches  throughout 
all  Judea  and  Galilee  and  Samaria ;  the 
church  at  Philippi ;  the  church  at  Colosse ; 
and  "  the  church  of  God  which  is  at  Co- 
rinth." 

In  some  instances,  the  term,  as  is  evident 
from  such  passages  as  these  :  "  Greet  the 
church  that  is  in  the  house  of  Aquila  and 
Priscilla  ;"  "  Salute  the  church  which  is  in 
the  house  of  Nymphas," — served  to  denote, 
if  not  a  single  family,  at  most  but  a  few  in- 
dividuals associated  in  observing  the  institu- 
tions of  the  G-ospel. 


THE     CHURCH     OF     CHRIST.  9 

But  the  people  of  Grod,  whenever  or 
wherever  they  may  have  lived,  and  under 
whatever  dispensation,  whether  the  Patriar- 
chal, the  Jewish,  or  the  Evangelical ;  or 
wherever  they  may  now  be,  whether  residing 
in  divers  places  on  the  earth,  or  bowing  be- 
fore the  throne  of  Grod  in  heaven  ;  are  all 
members  of  that  body  of  which  Jesus  Christ 
is  the  head.  "Unto  the  church  of  G-od 
which  is  at  Corinth,  to  them  that  are  sancti- 
fied in  Christ  Jesus,  called  to  be  saints,  with 
all  that  in  every  place  call  upon  the  name  of 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  both  theirs  and  ours  : 
— for  as  the  body  is  one,  and  hath  many 
members,  and  all  the  members  of  that  one 
body,  being  many,  are  one  body,  so  also  is 
Christ ;  for  by  one  Spirit  we  are  all  baptized 
into  one  body,  whether  we  be  Jews  or  Gen- 
tiles, whether  we  be  bond  or  free,  and  have 
been  all  made  to  drink  into  one  Spirit." 
Hence,  in  the  days  of  the  Apostles,  as  the 
disciples  were  called  by  the  distinctive  name 
of  Christians^  so  were  they  all  considered, 
though  residing,  and  worshipping  in  different 


10  THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST. 

places,  as  one  body  in  Christ,  and  all  mem- 
bers one  of  another. 

"What  a  spectacle  must  the  Church  of 
Christ  have  then  presented !  Harmony 
within,  and  uniformity  without ; — the  same 
ia  doctrine,  in  worship,  and  in  government — 
one  in  their  faith,  their  feelings,  and  their 
practice. 

But  as  the  visible  Church  necessarily  in- 
cluded some  who  were  not  truly  saints, 
though  they  might  at  first  have  seemed  to  be 
regenerate,  it  was  not  long  before  the  spirit 
of  depravity  began  to  operate,  and  to  disturb 
the  harmony  and  mar  the  symmetry  of  the 
Church,  either  by  obtruding  the  claims  of 
Judaism  and  the  suggestions  of  philosophy 
falsely  so  called ;  or  by  provoking  resistance 
to  ecclesiastical  authority.  Thus,  in  the 
very  church  at  Corinth  a  difficulty  ensued 
among  some  of  its  members  who  severally 
contended,  "  I  am  of  Paul,  and  I  of  ApoUos, 
and  I  of  Cephas,  and  I  of  Christ." 

Still,  at  that  time,  the  visible  church  was 
not  formally  divided  ;  nor  was  it   until  men 


THE    CHURCH    OF   CHRIST.  11 

claimed  to  belong  to  the  Church,  notwith- 
standing their  rejection  of  the  fundamental 
principles  of  the  gospel,  that  the  term  Catho- 
lic, or  general,  was  employed  to  designate  the 
true  church,  and  to  distinguish  its  members 
from  the  various  heretics  who  derived  their 
names  either  from  the  nature,  or  from  the 
authors,  of  their  peculiar  opinions. 

But  no  particular  denomination  of  Chris- 
tians is  now  entitled  to  be  called,  or  may 
scripturally  regard  itself,  in  distinction  from 
all  others,  as  the  Catholic  or  universal 
church :  much  less  may  any  body  of  men 
claim  the  title  of  Catholic,  as  exclusively 
applicable  to  themselves,  while  they  ac- 
knowledge any  other  head  of  the  church  than 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

Christendom  presents  to  our  view  many 
conflicting  sects ;  still,  there  is  a  visible 
Church  Catholic,  and  all  who  profess  the  true 
religion,  with  their  children,  by  whatever 
name  they  may  be  distinguished,  constitute 
the  true  and  only  true  Catholic  Church. 


12  THE    €h  oF    CHRIST. 

It  is  not  more  preposterous  for  the  Church 
of  Rome,  than  for  the  Church  of  England, 
to  regard  itself  as  the  only  true  Church ; 
and  in  either  case  quite  as  absurd  as  the  dis- 
pute between  the  Samaritans  and  the  Jews, 
as  to  the  exact  location  of  the  church, — 
whether  on  a  mountain  iii  Samaria,  or  in  the 
city  of  Jerusalem  ?  As  God  is  a  Spirit,  all 
who  worship  him  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  are  his 
true  worshippers,  be  they  where  they  may  ; 
and  wherever  theT/  a?'e,  there  is  that  Jerusa- 
lem which  is  the  mother  of  us  all.  And  in 
like  manner,  as  Christ  is  the  sole  head  of  the 
Church,  it  follows  that  all  who  acknowledge 
the  Head,  believing  in  him  and  obeying  his 
rule,  belong  to  his  body,  ''  the  Church  :" — the 
Church,  as  such,  comprising  every  Christian 
society  which  has  been  regularly  constituted 
according  to  the  fundamental  principles  of 
Christ  and  his  Apostles ;  in  which  the  truth  as 
it  is  in  Jesus  is  preached,  and  the  sacraments 
administered  according  to  his  injunctions.  In 
no  other  sense  is  the  Church  universal  or 
Catholic  ;  and  this,  too,  is  the  only  proper 


THE    CHURCH     OF     CHRIST.  13 

sense  in  which  it  is  one :  not  in  reference  to 
any  particular  form  of  government  or  mode 
of  worship  ;  but  simply,  inasmuch  as  among 
all  the  various  societies  or  churches  of  which 
it  is  composed,  ^'  there  is  one  Lord,  one  faith, 
one  baptism  ;"  unity,  resulting  from  certain 
great  principles  held  in  common,  not  from  dog- 
matic arrangement,  accidental  position,  or 
outward  appendages — the  unity,  not  of  any 
uniform  external  organization,  but  of  a  spirit- 
ual brotherhood,  sustaining  the  same  relations 
to  a  common  and  blessed  Head,  bound  toofe- 
ther  by  the  same  holy  affections,  and  going 
forth  with  diverse  equipments  and  in  different 
directions,  to  achieve  the  same  victory — to 
attain  the  same  inheritance. 

I  care  not  what  multitudes  may  in  one 
place  respond  to  the  Shibboleth  of  ecclesias- 
tical party,  let  men  only  be  united  by  a 
credible  profession  to  the  same  Divine  head  ; 
let  them  embrace  the  same  essential  truths — 
worship  the  same  God  in  spirit  and  in  truth 
— feed  on  the  same  spiritual  elements — grasp 
the  same  promises,  and  look  forward  to  the 


14  THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST. 

same  haven  of  rest. — no  matter  where. their 
earthly  lot  may  be  cast ;  no  matter  by  what 
name  they  may  be  called, — they  are  in  a  far 
truer,  deeper  sense  one^  than  could  be  se- 
cured to  them  by  any  nominal  relation  or 
external  uniformity.  The  former,  in  effect, 
belong  to  one  and  the  same  spiritual  Church; 
the  same  to  which  the  spiritual  part  of  Grod's 
people  always  belonged  ;  in  which  all  the 
elect  of  God  will  finally  be  gathered,  because 
He  w^hom  they  acknowledge  as  their  Head, 
is  one  and  the  same,  ^'  yesterday,  to-day, 
and  ^or  ever  :"  yesterday,  under  the  law  ;  to- 
day, under  the  gospel ;  to-morrow  and  for 
ever,  in  the  Kingdom  of  Grlory.  Either  ex- 
pected or  commemorated  by  the  people  of 
God  in  all  ages,  at  once  the  end  of  the  law, 
and  theS  sum  and  substance  of  the  gospel,  He 
is  the  source  and  centre  of  all  true  religion, 
from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  world 
— the  Redeemer  of  all  times — the  Saviour 
of  all  nations — the  adoration  of  saints  on 
earth,  and  of  saints  in  Heaven. 

When  identity  of  ecclesiastical  name,  or 


THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  15 

kneeling  at  an  altar,  becomes  a  matter  of 
more  vital  importance  to  the  soul,  than  one- 
ness with  Christ  the  Head  ;  then,  and  not 
till  then,  may  any  Christian  society  presume 
to  regard  itself  as  the  only  true  and  exclu- 
sively Catholic  Church. 

For  myself,  I  dare  to  say  that  I  can  hold 
communion  with  any  one  who  exalts  in  his 
heart  the  great  head  of  the  Church  ;  and 
whoever  thus  exalts  Christ  above  any  form 
of  church  polity  or  unessential  rite,  will  not 
be  backward  to  hold  communion  with  me. 

It  is  a  fact  well  worthy  of  note,  that  the 
different  sections  of  what  we  regard  as  the 
true  Church,  differ  mainly  only  in  relation  to 
points  not  essential  to  salvation.  It  is  the 
fact  of  their  being  united  by  a  living  faith  to 
Christ,  that  constitutes  them  members  of  one 
body  ;  and  (with  the  exception  of  the  close 
Communionists,  who,  in  magnifying  a  form, 
have  virtually,  like  the  Tractarians,  perverted 
the  conditions  of  salvation;)  it  is  little  else 
than  the  difference  in  their  views  of  church 
government  and  order,  that  precludes  their 


16  THE    CHURCH     OF     CHRIST. 

external  union.  Hence,  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  the  Congregational  or  Independent 
Church,  and  the  Episcopal  Church — distinc- 
tive terms,  having,  in  each  instance,  a  pri- 
mary reference  to  their  respective  forms  of 
church  government. 

Presbyterianism,  in  contradistinction  from 
spiritual  despotism,  or  the  Papacy — from  spir- 
itual lordship,  or  Episcopacy — from  spiritual 
democracy,  or  Independency,  has  been  de- 
fined to  be  "  spiritual  republicanism ;"  and 
with  marked  propriety,  inasmuch  as  it  main- 
tains that  "  Christ  has  made  all  ministers 
who  are  authorized  to  dispense  the  Word  and 
Sacraments  perfectly  equal  in  official  rank 
and  power  ;  that  in  every  particular  church, 
the  immediate  exercise  of  ecclesiastical 
power  is  deposited,  not  with  the  mass  of  the 
people,  but  with  a  body  of  their  representa- 
tives, styled  Elders,  and  that  the  whole 
visible  Catholic  Church,  so  far  as  their  deno- 
mination is  concerned,  is  not  only  one  in 
name,  but  so  united  by  a  series  of  assem- 
blies of  these  representatives,  acting  in  the 


THE    CHURCH     OF     CHRIST-  17 

name  and  by  the  authority  of  the  whole,  as 
to  bind  the  whole  body  together  as  one 
church,  walking  by  the  same  principles  of 
faith  and  order,  and  voluntarily,  yet  authori- 
tatively, governed  by  the  same  system  of  rule 
and  regulation."* 

"Wherever  the  ministers  of  the  Word  and 
Sacraments  are  officially  equal ;  wherever 
representatives  of  the  people,  with  their  pas- 
tors, compose  all  ecclesiastical  assemblies, 
from  the  lowest  judicatory  to  the  highest 
court  of  Review  and  Control, — though  the 
judicatories  may  be  styled  the  Session  or  the 
Consistory,  the  Presbytery  or  the  Classis,  the 
General  Synod  or  the  Greneral  Assembly, — 
there  is  Presbyterianism ;  and  hence,  not- 
withstanding some  diversity  in  names,  and 
in  the  minuter  details  of  their  ecclesiastical 
proceedings,  the  Reformed  Churches  in 
France,  Holland,  G-ermany,  Switzerland,  and 
Scotland,  are  all  essentially  Presbyterian. 

But  though  the  form  of  Church  polity  is 

*  For  the  most  satisfactory  information  on  this  subject, 
see  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Miller's  tract  on  "  Presbyterianism." 

2* 


18  THE    CHURCH     OF    CHRIST. 

not  essential  to  salvation,  or  to  the  union  of 
Christians  with  the  Head  of  the  Church, 
it  is  not  to  be  viewed  as  wholly  unim- 
portant. To  undervalue  the  form  which  may- 
be adopted,  would  be  quite  as  culpable, 
though  not  as  absurd,  as  to  deem  it  of  pri- 
mary moment.  In  the  latter  case,  it  were 
like  regarding  one's  hand  as  a  more  vital 
organ  than  his  heart ;  in  the  former,  as  if 
one  should  forego  the  use  of  his  limbs  because 
they  might  be  severed  from  his  body  without 
terminating  his  life. 

The  government  of  a  church,  as  that  of  a 
country,  is  important,  inasmuch  as  one 
form  more  than  another,  tends  to  subserve 
the  cause  of  order,  of  comfort,  and  of  im- 
provement. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  Head  of 
the  Church  arranged  the  principles  of  its 
government  with  no  reference  to  its  purity 
and  peace  —  its  growth  and  perpetuity  ; 
and  therefore,  it  may  be  well  to  inquire, 
which,  among  the  several  Christian  churches, 
may  be  considered  as  having,  in  most   re- 


THE     CHURCH    OP     CHRIST.  10 

spects,  a  scriptural  warrant  for  their  form  of 
government  ?  I  say,  in  most  respects  ;  for 
though  it  may  be  an  exposure  of  myself  to 
the  sneer  of  bigotry,  I  must  acknowledge 
that,  in  my  view,  the  plan  of  Church  govern- 
ment as  found  in  the  New  Testament  is  too 
indefinite,  not  in  its  principles  but  in  their 
adjustment,  to  lead  me  to  claim  for  any 
ecclesiastical  system,  an  exact  accordance 
with  the  scriptural  model ;  and  still  less  to 
admit  the  exclusive  views  often  advocated. 

You  may  attempt  to  prove,  if  you  are 
so  disposed,  that  Moses  made  the  Priest's 
robe  of  such  a  quality,  such  a  color,  and 
such  a  shape  ;  but  that  Paul  ever  thought 
of  accurately  adjusting  the  powers  of  a 
Church  Session,  much  less  that  he  should 
have  fashioned  the  mitre ^  and  made  the  very 
existence  of  the  Church  and  the  eificacy  of 
Christ's  atoning  sacrifice,  to  depend  on  its 
uninterrupted  transmission,  is  rather  too 
severe  a  tax  on  our  credulity  ! 

If  certainty  in  every  respect  were  attain- 
able, why  is  it  that  the  greatest  and  best  men 


20  THE    UHUllUU     OF     CHRIST. 

of  the  Church  have  ever  been  of  a  contrary 
judgment  ?  Why  is  it  that  the  most  strenu- 
ous advocates  of  High  Church  principles  pre- 
fer an  appeal  to  the  Fathers  of  a  corrupt  age, 
rather  than  to  the  writings  of  the  Apostles  ? 
Or,  if  any  definite  polity  was  to  be  enjoined 
on  the  Church,  and  authoritatively  conveyed 
from  age  to  age,  why  is  it  that  all  the  in- 
formation which  can  be  gathered  from  the 
New  Testament  is  so  incomplete,  and  to  a 
certain  extent  so  ambiguous  ;  that  there  is 
not  the  most  indistinct  allusion  to  the  im- 
portance of  apostolical  succession,  nor  to  the 
necessity  of  any  form  of  Church  government 
in  order  to  salvation  ? 

But  it  cannot  be  ; — such  a  system  as 
Christianity  never  could  have  contemplated 
the  minutiae  of  church  government,  or  the 
binding  force  of  any  outward  polity.  Men, 
whose  minds  were  fraught  with  stupendous 
truths,  whose  hearts  burned  with  love  for 
perishing  souls,  such  men  magnify  ''  trifles 
light  as  air,"  in  comparison  with  the  salva- 
tion of  a  dying  world  ?     The  idea  is  prepos- 


THE    CHURCH    OF     CHRIST.  21 

terous — only  worthy  of  being  referred  to  the 
darkness  of  the  darkest  age  of  the  Church. 
No  ;  absorbed  themselves  in  the  ''  weightier 
matters  of  the  law,"  it  was  reserved  for 
their  self-styled  successors  to  pay  the  tithe 
"  of  mint,  anise,  and  cumin  !" 

The  general  principles  of  Church  order, 
however,  may  be  deduced  from  scriptural 
facts  and  incidents,  and  these,  in  our  opinion, 
are  decidedly  in  favor  of  the  Presbyterian 
form.  You  are,  of  course,  not  surprised  that 
I  should  express  such  an  opinion.  If  there 
be  any  ground  for  surprise,  it  is  because 
Presbyterians  so  seldom  obtrude  the  claims 
of  their  church  on  public  attention  ;  and  be- 
cause of  their  accustomed  silence,  it  has 
been  supposed  that  they  themselves  regard 
their  ecclesiastical  polity  as  not  scripturally 
defensible. 

But  that  our  Church,  so  far  as  the  radical 
principles  of  its  government  are  concerned, 
approximates  to  the  Church  founded  by  the 
Apostles,  as  nearly,  to  say  the  least,  as 
any   other,  however  exclusive  its  claims, — 


22  THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST. 

might  be  argued  from  the  following  historic 
facts, — that  government  by  representatives 
elected  by,  and  acting  on  behalf  of  the  whole, 
is  one  of  the  earliest  principles  of  Church 
order  of  which  we  have  any  knowledge ; 
that  it  was  adopted  by  G-od's  ancient  people 
while  they  wxre  yet  in  Egypt ;  that  it  was 
the  principle  on  which  the  government  of  the 
synagogues  was  conducted,  and  on  which  both 
the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  government  of  the 
Jews  was  conducted  during  the  Mosaic  eco- 
nomy ;  that  there  was  not  only  a  bench  of 
elders  in  each  synagogue,  of  which  the 
Bishop,  or  "  Angel  of  the  Church,"  was  the 
presiding  officer,  but  also  the  great  synagogue 
at  Jerusalem  to  which  appeals  were  admit- 
ted, and  by  which  the  whole  Jewish  people 
were  bound  together  as  one  body  ;  that  the 
constitution  of  the  synagogue  was  in  all  pro- 
bability the  form  according  to  which  the 
government  of  the  Christian  Church  was 
modelled ;  that  accordingly  we  read  of 
"  Elders  having  been  ordained  in  every 
Church  ;"    of  "  the    Elders   of  the    Church 


THE     CHURCH     OF     CHRIST.  23 

having  been  called  together  ;"  of  the  Elders  of 
the  Church  being  called  for  "  to  visit  and 
pray  over  the  sick  ;"  of  an  important  question 
being  referred  "  to  the  Apostles  and  Elders." 
We  find,  that  the  Apostles  were  extraordinary 
officers,  having  been  set  apart  as  witnesses  to 
the  fact  of  Christ's  resurrection  ;  that  they 
had  no  other  relation  to  the  collective 
body  of  Christians  than  that  which  arose 
from  their  peculiar  position — a  relation  of 
dependence  and  subordination  grounded  in 
the  nature  of  historical  development,  and 
which  could  not  be  repeated;  that  if  the 
nature  of  their  office  had  admitted  of  the 
possibility  of  transmission,  they  were  not 
commanded  to  transmit  it,  nor  can  there  be 
adduced  the  smallest  evidence  that  they  did. 
We  find  that  they  preached  to  both  Jew  and 
Gentile,  a  religion  without  priest,  altar, 
sacrifice,  or  temple,  in  the  sense  which  had 
been  previously    attached  to  these  terms  ;*= 

*  See  "  The  Kingdom  of  Christ,"  delineated  by  Richard 
Whately,  D.  D.,  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  pp.  103-136.  Also, 
Neander's  "  History  of  the  Christian  Religion  and  Church." 
Vol.  i.,  pp.  178-179. 


24  THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST. 

and  therefore  must  have  designed  to  exclude 
from  the  Christian  Church  any  offices  or 
rites  analogous  to  the  temple-service  ;  that 
preaching  the  gospel  and  administering  the 
sacraments  were  the  highest  offices  entrust- 
ed to  the  ministers  of  Christ ;  that  Christ 
commissioned  no  higher  officers  in  the 
Church  than  those  whom  he  empowered 
*'  to  teach  and  to  baptize  all  nations  ;"  that 
a  plurality  of  elders  were  ordained  in  every 
Church ;  that,  though  the  circumstances  of 
the  early  churches  rendered  Apostolic  advice 
and  authority  proper  and  sometimes  neces- 
sary, churches  did  exercise  discipline  with- 
out the  intervention  of  an  Apostle ;  that 
Peter  placed  himself  on  a  level  with  Presby- 
ters as  regarded  the  government  of  the 
churches;  that  no  church  was  under  the 
watch  and  care  of  only  a  single  officer  ;  that 
there  was  a  distinction  between  the  teaching 
and  the  ruling  elders ;  that  the  term  Bishop 
in  the  Apostolic  age  was  the  distinguishing 
title  of  an  overseer  or  pastor  of  a  particular 
church ;    that    neither    Titus  nor  Timothy 


THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  25 

were  either  Apostles  or  prelates ;  that  a 
church  and  a  diocese  were  then  co-extensive 
and  identical — no  one  bishop  or  presbyter 
having  pre-eminence;  that  the  ordaining 
power  was  vested  in  the  associated  pastors 
of  the  churches,  and  exercised  by  ''  the  lay- 
ing on  of  the  hands  of  the  Presbytery  ;" 
that  the  only  instances  of  ordination  men- 
tioned in  the  New  Testament  are  essentially 
Presbyterial ;  that  Paul  and  Barnabas  them- 
selves were  ordained,  not  by  the  hands  of  the 
other  apostles,  but  by  the  elders  of  Antioch  ; 
that  Deacons  were  set  apart  to  serve  tables 
and  to  attend  to  the  poor,  and  not  to  preach 
the  Gospel — leaving  the  fair  presumption 
that  if  Stephen  and  Philip  preached  the 
gospel,  they  must  have  been  subsequently 
invested  with  the  teaching  office  ;  and, 
finally,  that  the  decrees  of  the  Apostles  and 
Elders  at  Jerusalem  were  sent  down  to  all  the 
churches. 

Leaving   the  ground  of  inspired   writ,  it 
might  be  made  to  appear  from  the  testimony 

of  the  early   fathers,  that  in  the  Apostolic 
3 


26  THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST. 

age,  bishop  and  presbyter  were  the  same  ; 
that  a  bishop  was  the  superintendent  or  over- 
seer of  a  single  church  ;  that  in  every  parish, 
a  body  of  elders,  with  their  bishop  at  their 
head,  attended  to  the  discipline  of  the  church  ; 
that  all  the  bishops  or  pastors  were,  as  re- 
spected their  ecclesiastical  powers,  on  an 
equality  :  that  no  one  possessed  the  exclusive 
right  of  ordaining,  but  that  this  right  be- 
longed in  common  to  all  who  were  empow- 
ered to  preach  the  gospel ;  and  that  this 
order  in  the  church  obtained  until  about  the 
commencement  of  the  third  century,  when 
the  pastors  of  some  of  the  metropolitan 
churches  began  to  arrogate  to  themselves  su- 
perior power,  and  were  thus,  through  the 
growing  corruptions  of  the  times,  gradually 
transformed,  from  the  pastors  of  single 
churches,  into  ' '  lords  over  Grod's  heritage."* 
It  might  be  argued,  moreover,  that  this 
subversion  of  the  original  principles  of  church 
government,    though   it   became,  through  a 

*  See  Neander's  "History  of  the  Christian  Church," 
Vol.  i.,  p.  190. 


THE    CHURCH     OF    CHRIST.  27 

worldly  policy  which  had  insinuated  itself 
into  the  church,  very  general,  was  not  uni- 
versal ;  that  there  were  witnesses  in  sack- 
cloth both  to  the  doctrines  which  had  been 
corrupted,  and  to  the  discipline  which  had 
been  artfully  subverted  ;  that  the  Paulicians 
of  the  seventh  century  were  succeeded  by 
the  Waldenses  and  Albigenses  who  also  pro- 
tested against  the  encroachments  of  Prelacy, 
while  they  adhered  to  the  original  principles 
of  government,  and  rejected  all  human  inven- 
tions in  the  worship  of  God  ;  that  some  time 
before  Calvin  appeared  on  the  stage  of  the 
Reformation,  the  doctrine  of  ministerial 
parity  was  introduced  into  Switzerland  by 
Zwingle ;  and  that,  as  the  leaders  of  the 
Reformation,  from  their  separate  and  inde- 
pendent study  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  came 
to  the  same  clear  conclusions  respecting  the 
essential  verities  of  the  gospel  which  had 
been  altogether  obscured  and  perverted  to 
further  the  aims  of  a  mercenary  and  ambi- 
tious priesthood,  so  did  they  all,  from  the 
conscientious  study  of  the  same  Scriptures, 


28  THE    CHURCH     OF    CHRIST. 

undesignedly  concur  in  their  view  of  church 
government  as  found  in  the  New  Testament ; 
though  some  of  them  were  of  opinion  that 
they  were  at  liberty  to  modify  it  according  to 
circumstances,  and  as  the  edification  of  the 
body  of  Christ  seemed  to  require.  Hence 
some  minor  diversities  in  the  ecclesiastical 
order  established  by  those  who  admitted  the 
scriptural  warrant  for  ministerial  parity  and 
the  office  of  Ruling  Elders.  Hence,  notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  many  of  the  most 
learned  and  pious  friends  of  the  Reformation 
in  England,  agreed  with  such  men  as  Luther, 
Farel,  fficolampadius,  Peter  Martyr,  Lasco, 
Junius,  and  Knox,  in  their  views,  that  in  the 
Apostolic  church  there  was  no  Prelacy,  yet 
in  that  country  the  system  of  Prelacy  was 
retained,  through  the  influence  of  the  king 
and  the  court  clergy,  as  being  more  in  unison 
with  the  genius  of  monarchy.^  Still,  the 
early  reformers  of  the  English  Church  main- 
tained an   affectionate   intercourse   with  the 

*  For  convenient  reference,  see  Macaulay's  "  History  of 
England,"  Vol.  i.,  pp.  39-41. 


THE     CHURCH     OF    CHRIST.  29 

non-episcopal  churches  on  the  continent  ; 
and  while  themselves  adhering  to  Episcopal 
ordination,  refrained  from  specifying  either 
Episcopacy  or  Episcopal  ordination  as  essen- 
tial either  to  the  organization  of  a  church,  or 
to  a  valid  ministry.  Nay,  so  far  from  laying 
claim  to  any  divine  right,  they  readily  ad- 
mitted the  validity  of  Presbyterian  ordina- 
tion ;  nor  was  it  until  clothed  with  hierarchi- 
cal dignity  by  royal  favor,  and  after  they  had 
unconsciously  yielded  to  the  intoxicating  in- 
fluences of  pomp  and  power,  that  some 
among  those  who,  during  the  period  of  their 
exile  in  the  reign  of  Mary,  had  been  of  one 
mind  and  heart  with  the  Reformers  on  the 
continent,  began  to  question  the  right  of  any 
one  to  preach  who  would  not  admit  that  they 
themselves  had  a  divine  risrht  to  rule."^ 

o 

"We  might  argue,  also,  from  the  considera- 
tions of  expediency  in  behalf  of  our  form  of 
government,  and  on  the  well  known  principle, 
that  "power  is  dangerous   in  the  hands  of 

*  See  the  "  Zurich  Letters,"'  in  connection  with  NeaPs 
"  History  of  the  Protestant  Non- Conformists." 
3* 


30  THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST. 

the  few,  and  that  wisdom  is  seldom  with  the 
multitude,"  show  that  our  ecclesiastical 
constitution  is  most  happily  balanced  for  re- 
sisting the  encroachments  of  ambition  on  the 
one  hand,  and  the  turbulence  of  the  popular 
will  on  the  other, — for  excluding  error  and 
enforcing  discipline  ;  while  it  is  not  to  be 
overlooked  that,  in  the  nature  and  design  of 
the  several  offices  in  our  church,  there  is  an 
admirable  and  truly  philosophic  provision  for 
man's  most  urgent  wants — the  wants  of  his 
mind,  of  his  heart,  and  of  his  body. 

But  it  has  been  my  object  merely  to  advert 
to  the  reasons  which  influence  us  to  regard 
our  Church,  as  being,  to  say  the  least,  as 
scriptural  and  as  wise  in  its  form  of  govern- 
ment, as  that  of  any  other  church  ;  and  also 
to  intimate  distinctly  that  whenever  it  is 
necessary  we  may  enter  the  list  of  contro- 
versy, and  rebuke  the  arrogance  of  those 
worshippers  of  Sect  who  sometimes  over- 
ween,  and  in  their  moments  of  hallucination, 
exclaim :  The  temple  of  the  Lord^  the  tem^ 
pie  of  the  Lordy  are  We  ! 


THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  31 

But,  though  the  Presbyterian  Church  may- 
adduce  such  an  array  of  fact  and  argument 
in  favor  of  her  order,  she  is  neither  a  bigoted 
nor  a  proselyting  church.  Attached,  as  she 
should  be,  to  her  own  polity,  highly  valuing 
it  both  on  account  of  its  subservience  to  the 
interests  of  true  religion,  and  the  stability  of 
our  free  institutions,  yet  she  never  v^rantonly 
invades  the  precincts,  nor  assails  the  pecu- 
liarities of  other  churches.  All  she  asks  of 
others,  is  the  liberty  which  she  is  so  forward 
to  grant  to  them, — that  of  believing  and 
acting  according  to  their  respective  and  intel- 
ligent conviction  of  the  truths  of  G-od's  most 
Holy  Word.  It  is  not  for  her  to  condemn 
other  branches  of  Zion. — To  his  own  Master 
every  one  standeth  or  falleth.  Though  she 
cannot  conscientiously  admit  the  pretensions 
of  sectarists,  yet  she  denies  to  none  who  em- 
brace the  fundamental  truths  of  religion,  the 
name  of  Christian  churches;  nor  does  she 
endeavor  "  to  prevent  others  from  casting  out 
devils"  because  they  follow  not  in  her  steps  ; 
much   less   unchurch   others   because    they 


32  THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST. 

will  not  defer  to  her  authority.  Resting  the 
claims  of  her  ministers,  not  on  some  imag- 
inary sacramental  virtue  transmitted  in  a 
supposed  succession  of  prelates  from  the 
Apostles,  but  on  the  fact  of  their  having 
been  called  of  Grod,  commissioned  by  Christ, 
and  regularly  appointed  officers  of  a  visible 
Christian  church,  she  never  deems  it  expe- 
dient to  deny  the  ordination  of  the  ministers 
of  other  Christian  communities,  in  order  to 
establish  the  validity  of  her  own  ordinances. 
With  the  characteristic  magnanimity  of  con- 
scious truth  and  security,  she  grants  to  others 
what  is  often  withheld  from  herself.  Nor 
covetous  of  the  favor  of  the  world,  does  she 
ever  vaunt  her  own  claims  to  disparage 
others,  or  attack  others,  but  to  defend  her- 
self. 

In  accessions  to  her  communion  she  would 
rejoice;  but  not  at  the  expense  of  other 
branches  of  Zion.  Nay,  without  any  token 
of  disapprobation,  she  permits  her  members 
to  connect  themselves  with  other  evangelical 
churches ;  and  in  no  case,  does  "  she  com- 


THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  33 

pass  sea  and  land"  to  make  one  proselyte  to 
her  form.  With  her,  to  be  a  Christian — a 
new  creature  in  Christ  Jesus,  is  of,  more 
account  than  to  be  called  a  Presbyterian,  an 
Episcopalian,  a  Baptist,  or  a  Methodist; 
while  she  often  invites  the  ministers  of  other 
churches  to  her  pulpits,  and  is  always  ready 
to  unite  in  proper  ways  with  other  denom- 
inations in  works  of  love  and  mercy. 

Perhaps  she  has  erred  on  the  score  of  liber- 
ality. Hence,  some  with  whom  she  united 
in  efforts  for  a  common  cause,  have  endeav- 
ored to  undermine  her  polity  ;  and  others, 
the  validity  of  whose  ordinances  she  admit- 
ted, have  endeavored  to  drain  her  ministry, 
and  draw  from  her  communion. 

Had  she  adopted  a  selfish  policy  ;  had  her 
preaching,  journals,  tracts,  and  catechisms, 
from  the  first,  been  strongly  sectarian ;  had  she 
infected  the  susceptible  minds  of  her  children 
with  the  idea  that  theirs  was  the  only  true 
church,  and  that  without  her  pale  there  was 
no  "  covenanted  mercy"  for  the  sons  of  men  ; 
had  she  strenuously  denied  the  validity  of 


34  THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST. 

ordination  in  other  churches,  as  she  might, 
with  quite  as  much  propriety  as  they  have 
denied  that  of  her  ministers  ;  and  had  she  in- 
vested the  sacraments  with  a  mysteriously 
efficacious  virtue,  and  at  the  same  time  com- 
promised with  the  maxims  and  customs  of  the 
world,  she  might,  as  an  ecclesiastical  organi- 
zation, have  been  more  extended,  and  seem- 
ingly more  consolidated  ;  but  by  such  a 
policy,  she  had  increased  in  external  strength, 
at  the  dread  expense  of  internal  soundness. 

May  the  time  never  come  when  she  shall 
merge  the  character  of  a  Christian  church 
into  that  of  a  proselyting  Sect.  "Woe  be  to 
her,  should  she  exalt  any  ordinance  above 
essential  Christianity  ;  if  she  ever  dare  to 
place  the  principles  of  church  government 
upon  a  level  with  Christ's  atoning  sacrifice 
— the  only  hope  of  a  lost  world  !  Let  her 
become  impoverished,  or  mean  in  the  eye 
of  the  world  ;  let  her  dwindle  to  the  obscurest 
Church ;  but  God  forbid,  that  she  should 
glory  save  in  the  cross  of  Christ. 

No  point  can  be  more  clearly  established 


THE    CHURCH    OF     CHRIST.  35 

and  illustrated  by  Church  history  than  this, — 
that  to  exalt  the  ritual  and  ecclesiastical  ele- 
ments of  religion  to  a  position  of  equality 
with  the  spiritual,  is  a  course  most  certainly 
fatal  to  the  integrity  of  Christian  faith  and 
practice. 

But  notwithstanding  that  spirit  of  charity 
which  has  ever  actuated  the  Church,  in  rela- 
tion to  all  evangelical  denominations,  she 
has  encountered  much  opposition,  and  in- 
curred enmity.  The  reasons  for  this  may  be 
traced  to  the  several  facts — 

I.  That  in  accordance  with  the  fundamen- 
tal principle  of  her  creed,  she  has  ever  ad- 
hered to  the  Bible  as  the  only  infallible  rule 
of  faith  and  practice.  So  far  from  blending 
Scripture  with  tradition,  or  viewing  tradition 
as  an  authority  either  co-ordinate  with,  or 
subordinate  to,  Scripture ;  the  Church  has 
been  most  scrupulously  careful  to  separate 
every  precedent  or  dogma  of  antiquity,  by  a 
wide  remove,  from  the  authority  of  Inspi- 
ration ;  while  she  loves  to  honor  and  exalt 


36  THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST. 

the  word  of  God,  as  at  once  the  all-suffi- 
cient and  only  authoritative  rule.  What- 
ever accusations  may  be  made  against  her,  it 
cannot  be  said  with  the  least  shadow  of  truth 
or  justice,  that  she  has  ever  "  rejected  the 
commandment  of  Grod  that  she  might  keep 
her  own  tradition."  It  matters  not  how  in- 
genious the  arguments,  or  expedient  the  mo- 
tives which  may  be  presented  ;  however  for- 
midable the  array  of  patristic  names  that 
may  be  marshalled,  or  positive  the  decrees  of 
awe-inspiring  councils  that  may  be  reiterated 
in  angry  tones — nothing  can  have  any  influ- 
ence on  her  conscientious  faith  and  practice, 
so  long  as  it  cannot  be  made  to  appear  to  her 
clear  conviction,  that  the  article  or  the  rite 
is  warranted  either  by  a  "  Thus  saith  the 
Lord,"  or  by  a  legitimate  inference  from 
Holy  Scripture. 

Hence,  she  rejected  all  the  superstitious 
and  demoralizing  rites,  as  well  as  the  au- 
thority of  the  See  of  Rome,  and  still  objects 
to  all  ghostly  devices  in  the  worship  of  God  : 
being  fully  aware,  that  the  moment  we  de- 


THE  CHURCH  of  chuist.  37 

part  from  the  authority  of  God's  word,  there 
can  be  no  end,  as  ecclesiastical  history  serves 
to  illustrate,  to  either  the  suggestions  of 
vanity,  or  the  perversions  of  expediency. 

Hence,  too,  the  cause  of  her  memorable 
conflict  in  the  sixteenth  century  with  the 
monarch  and  prelates  of  the  English  Church 
who,  sympathizing  to  a  great  extent  with 
Romish  usages,  were  in  favor  of  an  im- 
posing ritual  ;  who,  regarding  less  the  rights 
of  conscience  than  the  multiplicity  of  their 
forms,  branded  the  non-conformists  as  Puri- 
tans, persecuted  them  with  envenomed  hate  ; 
and  when  neither  sophistry  nor  force  could 
prevail  with  the  champions  of  the  Bible, 
contrived,  by  employing  ridicule,  to  create  a 
prejudice  against  them,  which  the  Church  cf 
England  to  this  day  has  been  at  no  pains  to 
remove.  Hence,  also,  being  well  aware  that 
all  usurped  and  arbitrary  power  is  hazardous 
to  the  interests  of  revealed  truth,  no  matter 
with  what  caution  and  meekness  it  may  at 
first  be  exercised,  the  Church  still  objects  to 
the  authoritative  interpretation  of  fcjcripture  ; 


38  THE    CHURCH     OF    CHRIST. 

demanding  no  assent  even  to  her  oivn  creed, 
except  so  far  as  that  creed  is  sanctioned  by  the 
teachings  of  God's  holy  word;  ever  re- 
ferring her  members  to  the  "  law  and  the 
testimony"  that  the  faith  of  each  may  be, 
not  a  hereditary  prejudice,  nor  a  mere  intel- 
lectual conviction,  but  the  "  belief  of  the 
heart  unto  righteousness." 

In  this,  the  fundamental  principle  of  her 
creed,  we  have  reason  to  rejoice.  As  the 
original  cause  of  all  divisions,  the  source  of 
all  corruptions  in  the  Christian  Church,  may 
be  traced  to  early  departures  from  the  primi- 
tive doctrine  and  discipline  of  the  Church, 
so  the  only  remedy  for  these  divisions  and 
errors  is  a  return  to  the  Scriptures,  as  the 
only  rule,  and  as  containing  all  that  is  ne- 
cessary to  saving  faith. 

II.  Prejudice  has  been  excited  against  the 
Church  by  the  opponents  of  her  doctrinal 
system,  who,  either  through  a  want  of 
knowledge,  or  a  great  want  of  candor — it 
may  be  from  a  conscious  inability  to  meet 
us  on  fair  ground — have  characterized  it  as 


THE     CHURCH     OF     CHRIST.  39 

a  system  at  once  repugnant  to  the  best  sen- 
timents of  our  nature,  and  dishonorable  to 
Grod's  perfections  ;  tending  either  to  despair, 
or  to  presumption  ;  to  Pharisaism,  or  to  li- 
centiousness :  as  if  the  Westminster  divines 
in  their  formulary  of  "  The  Doctrines  of 
Grace,"  had  not  been  furnished  by  Paul 
himself  with  all  their  fundamental  positions 
— that  "  by  the  offence  of  one  judgment 
came  upon  all  men  to  condemnation;"  that 
*'  all  have  sinned  and  come  short  of  the  glory 
of  God;"  that  "by  the  deeds  of  the  law 
there  shall  no  flesh  be  justified  in  his  sight ;" 
that  "  by  grace  ye  are  saved  through  faith, 
and  that  not  of  yourselves,  it  is  the  gift  of 
God  ;"  that  "  whom  he  did  predestinate, 
them  he  also  called,  and  whom  he  called 
them  he  also  justified,  and  whom  he  justified, 
them  he  also  glorified ;"  "  that  as  sin  hath 
reigned  unto  death,  even  so  might  grace 
reign  through  righteousness  unto  eternal  life, 
by  Jesus  Christ  our  Lordy  As  if  these 
scriptural  views  were  foreign  from  the  doctri- 
nal sentiments  of  Auojustine  and  Claudius,  or 


40  THE     CHURCH     OF    CHRIST. 

of  "Wickliffe  and  Huss,  our  system  of  doc- 
trine has  been  regarded  as  an  invention  of 
Calvin  !  As  if  Oranmer  had  had  no  agency 
in  kindling  the  flames  which  consumed  the 
bodies  of  Ann  Askew  and  Joanna  Bocher,  or 
Laud  had  been  a  paragon  of  goodness,  the 
"  burning  of  Servetus,'^  has  been  charged 
on  the  influence  of  the  Calvinistic  creed  ! 
As  if  the  persecutors  of  the  "  two  thousand 
ejected  ministers"  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II., 
had  been  the  most  noble-minded  and  godly- 
men  that  the  world  had  ever  seen,  all  the 
evils  of  those  unhappy  times  have  been  as- 
cribed to  the  ascetic  and  intolerant  spirit  of 
Calvinism  !  In  short,  no  creed  has  ever  been 
more  misrepresented.  From  various  quarters 
it  has  received  all  the  epithets  of  abuse  and 
contumely  with  which  the  name  of  Luther 
was  branded  by  the  Romanists.  At  one  time, 
the  most  illogical  inferences  have  been  drawn 
from  some  of  our  doctrinal  positions  to  coun- 
teract their  force  ;  and  again  they  have  been 
so  perverted  as  to  convey  the  impression  to 
not  a  few  minds,  that  we   hold  sentiments 


THE     CHURCH    OF     CHRIST.  41 

the  most  abhorrent  from  all  reason  and  reli- 
gion : — as  though  a  Church,  whose  only  rule 
of  faith  is  the  pure  word  of  God,  could  pos- 
sibly regard  him  as  a  tyrant,  or  man  the 
victim  of  an  arbitrary  power  !  As  though  the 
ministry  of  a  Church,  which  has  been  so  suc- 
cessful in  "  winning  souls  to  Christ,"  could 
ever  have  represented  God  as  the  author  of 
sin,  man  a  machine,  or  the  whole  plan  of 
salvation  a  system  of  iron-handed  fate  ! 
But  which  of  us  can  be  so  ignorant  as  not 
to  know,  that  one  of  the  prominent  devices 
of  Satan,  is  to  attack  the  Bible  through  the 
medium  of  that  system  of  doctrine  which  it 
teaches — to  aim  at  the  Head  through  the 
medium  of  his  body,  the  Church  ? 

It  cannot  be  denied,  however,  that  when 
the  creed  of  the  Church  is  fairly  represented, 
— though  it  receives  ample  support  from  the 
word  of  God  ;  though  it  is  substantially  the 
same  as  that  which  was  maintained  by  the 
witnesses  for  the  truth,  and  by  the  great 
body  of  the  Reformers  ;  though  it  is  obnox- 
ious to  fewer  speculative  objections  than  any 
opposing  system,  and  though  its  moral  iniia- 


42  THE     CHURCH     OF     CHRIST. 

ence,  wherever  it  has  been  cordially  em- 
braced, has  been  seen  to  be,  through  all  the 
relations  and  in  all  circumstances  of  human 
life,  eminently  pure  and  happy, — yet  that  it 
is  in  no  wise  fitted  to  conciliate  the  natural 
heart:  so  humbling  is  it  to  human  pride, 
so  uncompromising  its  claims  on  our  obe- 
dience, and  so  inseparably  connected  with 
self-denial  and  spirituality  of  mind.  Clear 
is  it,  as  the  truth  of  the  G-ospel,  that  "  the 
things  of  the  Spirit  are  spiritually  discerned  ;" 
that  "  the  carnal  mind  is  enmity  against 
God  ;"  and  these  considerations  constitute, 
in  brief,  another  reason  why  the  Church  is 
so  far  from  being  held  in  favorable  repute  by 
those  who,  if  they  dare  not  deny  the  Bible 
to  be  a  revelation  from  Heaven,  would  be 
left  to  interpret  it  according  to  the  dictates 
of  their  understanding,  the  suggestions  of 
their  pride,  or  the  interest  of  their  sect ;  who 
would  substitute  works  for  faith,  formality 
for  devotion,  baptism  for  regeneration,  com- 
muning for  Christian  character,  or  a  respect 
for  religion   and   its   ordinances  for  a  godly, 


THE    CHURCH    OF     CHRIST.  43 

sober,  and  righteous  life ;  and  especially 
among  those,  on  the  one  hand,  who  would 
shut  out  from  sinful  men  those  solemn 
scenes  which  await  them  beyond  the  grave  ; 
and* on  the  other,  among  those  who,  arrogat- 
ing to  themselves  the  sole  right  to  olFiciate 
in  the  Church  of  Christ,  would  teach  the 
people  to  expect  no  other  pardon  than  that 
which  it  is  their  prerogative  to  dispense ;  to 
hope  for  no  other  salvation  than  that  which 
flows  through  their  ordinances  I 

TIL  Besides,  the  discipline  of  the  Church 
is  proverbially  strict.  Being  the  guardian  of 
the  sacred  oracles,  she  must  be  invested  with 
authority  to  punish  any  who  may  violate  the 
principles  of  her  charge  ;  •  or,  viewed  simply 
as  a  body  corporate,  it  cannot  preserve  itself 
unless,  like  other  lawful  societies,  it  has  a 
disciplinary  power  over  its  own  members. 
Divest  it  of  this  spiritual  control,  and  the 
Church  no  longer  exists  save  in  name  ; — its 
faith,  its  purity,  its  peace,  all  are  gone  ! 
Hence  the  government  of  the  Church  opens 
no  door  for  the  entrance  of  error  or  of  irreli- 


44  THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST. 

gion  to  her  communion.  It  invites  no  selfist, 
no  fashionist,  no  devotee  of  worldly  honor  or 
of  sensual  pleasure,  to  her  solemn  feasts.  It 
thrusts  from  her  holy  altars  all  who  live  in 
the  habitual  violation  of  known  duty  ;  while 
it  promptly  deposes  the  office-bearer  who 
either  departs  from  the  faith,  or  violates  mo- 
rality ;  nor  will  deference  to  her  polity  make 
ample  amends  for  defection  from  her  doc- 
trinal standards. 

This  feature  of  the  Church  has  not  met 
the  approbation  of  those  who  would  blend 
error  with  truth  ;  serve  G-od  and  mam- 
mon ;  reconcile  religion  and  the  world ;  or 
who  hate  discipline  because  they  love  their 
sins  ;  and  for  this  reason,  some  who  have 
left  her  communion,  would  conceal  the  laxity 
of  their  own  principles,  by  exaggerating  the 
rigid  features  of  Presbyterial  discipline. 

IV.  Her  ministry,  too,  demands  pure 
hearts  and  strong  minds — men  of  intellect, 
of  learning,  and  of  piety.  Something  more 
is  needed  besides  voice,  and  manner,  and  a 
correct  moral  deportment,  to  secure  comfort 


THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  45 

and  success,  or  "even  respect  in  her  ministry. 
Without  a  heart  for  the  great  end  of  the 
ministry,  her  mode  of  worship  will  be  found 
to  be  both  laborious  and  irksome  ;  without  a 
vigorous  and  well -furnished  intellect,  no  one 
can  give  permanent  satisfaction.  Hence, 
her  pulpit  presents  but  little  attraction  to 
men  of  cold  hearts  or  of  feeble  heads.  Hence, 
some  have  left  her  pulpits,  and  to  cover  the 
mortification  of  their  failure  either  to  receive 
a  call,  or  to  sustain  themselves  in  a  charge, 
have,  forsooth,  had  their  qualms  as  to  the 
validity  of  their  ordination  by  the  laying 
on  of  the  hands  of  the  presbytery  ! 

Y.  Let  it  be  considered,  moreover,  that 
Presbyterianism  is  the  great  obstacle  in  the 
way  both  of  clerical  assumption  and  of  popu- 
lar excitement ;  that  it  has  no  fellowship 
with  the  unfruitful  works  of  darkness,  no 
tolerance  for  damning  heresies,  no  sympathy 
with  formalism  on  the  one  hand,  and  with 
fanaticism  on  the  other  ;  that  it  is  unfriendly 
to  nothing  but  ignorance,  and  bigotry,  and 
superstition,    and    error,    and    vice,  and    op- 


46  THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST. 

pression,  and  you  have  at  a  glance  the  com- 
plication of  causes  which,  in  different  nriinds 
and  among  different  interests,  have  operated, 
and  mjy  continue  to  operate,  to  its  prejudice. 
It  is  the  opposition  of  human  inventions  to 
the  word  of  God — of  sinister  and  worldly 
ends  to  the  interests  of  Christ's  Kingdom. 

Still  the  Church  has  no  cause  to  be  dis- 
heartened or  intimidated.  At  no  time  has 
she  enjoyed  the  smile  of  the  world  but  when 
faithless  to  her  glorious  Head.  The  purer  in 
doctrine,  the  more  spiritual  in  worship,  the 
more  energetic  in  discipline  she  may  have 
been  at  any  period  of  her  history,  the  more 
has  she  been  exposed  to  obloquy.  And  how 
can  railing  accusations  be  prevented  so  long 
as  she  does  not  accommodate  her  standards 
to  the  world's  notions  ?  The  Church  of 
Christ  is  necessarily  antagonistic  to  all  the 
errors  and  vices  of  the  world.  The  strictest 
signification  of  the  word  is,  the  company  of 
those  who  have  been  called  out  of  the  world 
to  be  servants  of  G-od  and  the  citizens  of 
Heaven  I     "  i'e  are  not  of  the  world,  even 


THE    CHURCH     OF     CHRIST.  47 

as  I  am  not  of  the  world."  ''  Ye  shall  be 
holy  unto  me,"  said  God  to  the  Church  of  old  ; 
*'  for  I,  the  Lord,  am  holy,  and  have  severed 
you  from  other  people  that  ye  should  be  mine." 
Whatever  the  reasons  of  opposition  to  her 
form  of  government,  none  can  more  effectu- 
ally protect  the  rights,  and  secure  the  inter- 
ests of  both  minister  and  people  ;  none  in- 
volves less  necessity  for  extra  voluntary 
associations,  or  furnishes  greater  facilities 
for  either  equitable  judicial  decisions,  ener- 
getic discipline,  or  the  most  extended  and 
harmonious  co-operation.  Her  Creed  may 
not  be,  as  to  its  every  letter,  unexception- 
able ;  but  taken  as  a  system — for  that  is  all 
it  purports  to  be — what  system  is  so  con- 
formable to  the  word  of  Grod  ?  Her  mode 
of  worship,  though  not  imposing,  accords 
with  the  mind  of  the  Spirit,  and  with  the 
custom  of  the  early  Christians  ;  and  though 
some  may  deem  it  too  simple,  let  it  be  recol- 
lected that  uncommanded  rites  and  forms 
were  multiplied  for  the  sake  of  attracting 
minds  which  had  been   addicted  to  supersti- 


48  THE    CHURCH     OF     CHRIST. 

tious  practices  ;  that  human  nature  has  ever 
been  perversely  disposed  to  substitute  a  ritual 
for  a  spiritual  worship  ;  and  that  it  was 
through  the  decline  of  true  piety  that  Chris- 
tianity, by  the  fourth  century,  was  converted 
into  a  religion  of  church  mysteries,  church 
mummeries,  and  church  despotism.^ 

Our  system  has  the  three  orders  or  classes 
of  church  officers,  while  our  ministers  are 
bishops  in  the  primitive  sense  ;  and  whether 
it  be  intellect,  learning,  eloquence,  or  piety 
and  devotedness,  they  are  not  surpassed 
by  those  of  any  other  communion.  But 
I  may  not  indulge  in  invidious  comparisons. 
Let  others  be  as  they  may — all  that  enters 
into  the  constitution  of  a  regular  Christian 
church,  is  found  within  our  pale;  all,  too, 
that  serves  to  form  a  respectable  and  influ- 
ential denomination.  I  will  not  point  you 
to  our  numerous,  and  magnificent  church 
edifices,  our  men  of  wealth  and  honor,  of 
intelligence  and   probity,  the   number  of  our 

*  See  "  Ancient  Christianity,"  by  Isaac  Taylor,  p.  334. 


THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  49 

educated  clergy,  the  number  of  our  presby- 
teries, or  the  number  of  our  communicants. 
In  what  church  will  you  find  purer  doctrine 
and  more  heartfelt  piety  ?  Where  a  greater 
readiness  to  encounter  obloquy  and  scorn, 
yea.  the  loss  of  all  things  for  conscience' 
sake  ?  AYhere  is  it  that  preaching  is  more 
evangelical  and  faithful  ?  From  what  sec- 
tion of  the  visible  Church  do  prayers  more 
ardent  ascend  to  Heaven  ?  From  whom  do 
the  poor  heathen  receive  more  sympathy, 
and  the  far  distant  missionary  more  effective 
aid  ?  And  where  can  you  find  so  large  a 
body  of  men,  so  united  in  their  theological 
views,  and  so  generally  at  peace  ? 

It  is  true  that  she  has  had  her  difficulties 
and  trials  from  false  friends  and  open  enemies; 
but  what  church  has  not  ?  It  is  true  that 
she  was  for  some  years  a  divided  church  ; 
but  her  experience  in  this  respect  has  not 
been  peculiar.  There  is  now  most  serious 
division  in  the  Church  of  England  ;  and, 
unless  a  regard  for  its  polity  counteract  the 
rearard  for  its  articles,  mercjinsr  the  love'of 


50  THE     CHURCH    OF    CHRIST. 

truth  into  the  pride  of  outward  union,  **  the 
Oxford  tracts"  have  paved  the  way  for  the 
formal,  as  they  have  already  effected  a  doc- 
trinal, division  in  the  American  episcopate. 

It  may  be  that  difficulties  and  divisions 
are  inseparable  from  the  condition  of  the 
church  militant.  They  cannot  be  prevented 
unless  all  freedom  of  thought  and  expression 
be  precluded,  unless  the  heart  be  palsied 
through  fear,  and  the  mind  chained  down 
by  the  hand  of  ghostly  despotism.  Hence 
the  boast  of  outward  unity  is  the  prerogative 
of  the  Romish  Church  ;  but  as  well  might 
the  palsy  boast  to  the  man  it  has  benumbed, 
^'  It  is  I  that  free  you  from  stitches  and 
pains." 

But  since  the  Church  was  planted  on  the 
shores  of  the  New  "World,  how  has  the  Head 
of  the  body  ever  been  with  her  to  guide  and 
to  guard  her,  and  to  prosper  the  work  of  her 
hands !  Then,  one  little  spot  of  ground 
served  for  her  only  altar,  and  the  little  band  of 
her  members  :  now,  in  almost  every  section 
of  our  extended  territory,  you  will  find  her 


THE     CHURCH    OF     CHRIST.  51 

order,  her  doclrine,  her  worship.  From  a 
single  person,  her  ministry  has  swelled  to 
hundreds ;  from  a  single  church  to  thou- 
sands ;  from  a  few  communicants  to  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  ;  from  the  solitary  study 
of  a  pastor,  her  facilities  for  the  thorough 
education  of  candidates  for  the  ministry,  are 
well  endowed  seminaries ;  from  one  pastor, 
himself  a  missionary  to  this  western  wilder- 
ness, how  many  missionaries  to  heathen 
lands  I 

But  during  the  years  of  her  pilgrimage  in 
this  land,  how  has  she  contended  against  the 
foes  of  both  civil  and  religious  freedom  I 
How  has  she  ever  withstood  all  immoral 
practices  and  all  false  doctrine  I  What 
patriots  and  what  Christians  have  been 
nursed  in  her  bosom  I  How  many  have 
been  baptized  at  her  fonts  !  How  many 
have  encircled  her  altars  !  What  multitudes 
has  she  instrumentally  brought  '•  from  na- 
ture's darkness  into  the  marvellous  light  of 
the  gospel  I"  How  much  ignorance  has  she 
enlightened,  wretchedness  relieved,  and  sor- 


52  THE     CHURCEC     OF     CHRIST. 

row  consoled !  0  how  many  who  once 
sat  beneath  the  droppings  of  her  sanctuaries, 
and  sung  the  songs  of  Zion,  are  now  bowing 
before  the  throne,  ascribing  salvation  unto 
the  Lamb  I  Where  are  her  Witherspoons 
and  Rodgers  "  whose  doctrine  and  whose 
life  coincident"  gave  ample  proof  that  they 
were  honest  in  the  sacred  work  ?  Where 
her  Tennents  and  Davies,  whose  preaching 
startled  the  dull,  cold  ear  of  an  unbelieving 
world,  and  awoke  multitudes  to  the  momen- 
tous concerns  of  death  and  eternity  ?  Where 
her  KoUocks  and  Masons,  whose  eloquence 
convinced  the  most  skeptical  and  touched 
the  most  obdurate  ?  her  Wilsons  and 
Millers,  whose  learning  established  her  prin- 
ciples and  bafHed  her  adversaries  ?  her 
Blackburns  and  McMillans,  who  first  crossed 
the  AUeghanies  to  carry  the  lamp  of  life  to 
our  western  borders  ?  her  Ralstons  and 
Bayards,  who  ruled  so  well  in  the  house  of 
God,  because  they  first  ruled  themselves  ? — 
All  these  are  sleeping  in  her  tombs ;  but 
their    intellect   survives,    their    spirit   lives, 


THE     CHURCH     OF    CHRIST.  53 

stimulating  other  minds,  firing  other  hearts 
to  the  service  of  God  and  the  world  ! 

Ever  does  it  become  us  to  give  thanks 
when  we  recall  the  past,  and  ever  to  bless 
God  that  great  and  sore  as  may  have  been 
her  occasional  trials,  they  have  resulted  only 
in  rendering  her  purer  in  doctrine,  sounder 
in  learning,  more  faithful  in  preaching, 
more  dependent  in  feeling,  more  harmonious 
in  view  and  co-operative  in  action. 

Never  has  our  Church  enjoyed  more  out- 
ward prosperity  than  at  present.  We  see  the 
evidence  of  this,  not  only  in  the  harmony  of 
its  different  sections,  in  the  character  and 
mental  strength  of  its  ministry,  in  the  con- 
spicuity  and  influence  of  many  of  its  congre- 
gations, and  in  the  efficiency  of  its  various 
Boards,  but  even  in  the  church  edifices  which 
have  of  late  been  built,  or  are  now  in  the 
process  of  erection. 

It  is,  therefore,  with  feelings  of  more  than 
ordinary  interest  that  I  meet  you  to-day, 
men  and  brethren,  in  the  new  house  which 


54  THE     CHURCH    OF    CHRIST. 

you  have  erected  for  the  worship  of  the  G-od 
of  your  fathers ;  and  in  the  name  of  the 
Church,  I  thank  you  for  your  liberality,  and 
your  efforts  in  behalf  of  her  interests  in  this 
city.  Still  my  feelings  of  interest  on  this 
occasion  are  blended  with  melancholy  remi- 
niscences. I  had  indeed  long  felt  that  there 
was  need  for  a  new  church  edifice  ;  and  that, 
owing  to  the  advancing  spirit  of  the  times, 
there  were  special  reasons  against  all  delay 
in  the  contemplated  work  of  re-building ; 
nevertheless,  it  caused  me  emotions — I  had 
almost  said  of  painful  regret — when  I  learned 
that  the  old  church  had  been  demolished, 
and  the  thought  rose  in  my  mind  that  I 
should  never  re-enter  the  pulpit  where  my 
ministry  of  the  Word  commenced  ;  where  my 
youthful  efforts  in  the  cause  of  Christ  were 
encouraged  by  an  affectionate  people,  and 
where  I  had  the  unspeakable  satisfaction  of 
seeing  the  work  of  the  Lord  prospering 
through  my  humble  instrumentality.  How 
many  tender  memories  throng  my  mind  as  1 
revert  to  that  old  pulpit,  and  to   the  people 


THE    CHURCH     OF    CHRIST.  55 

who  SO  unanimously  called  me  and  faithfully 
sustained  me,  and  to  whom  I  was  wont  to 
administer,  as  G-od  gave  me  strength,  all  the 
lights,  and  succors,  and  consolations  of  his 
precious  word ;  many  of  whom,  ah  !  how 
many  I  I  have  lived  to  see  one  after  another 
go  down  to  the  silent  tomb. 

About  eighteen  years  have  passed  since  I 
stood  in  that  old  pulpit,  and  charged  you 
^'to  keep  in  memory  what  things  I  had 
preached  unto  you  ;"  and  when  I  then  bade 
you  farewell  as  your  pastor,  so  feeble  was 
my  health,  that  I  never  expected  to  re-enter 
that  pulpit,  much  less  live  to  stand  where  T 
now  do,  and  see  what  now  greets  my  eye. 

Ah  I  what  a  change  has  taken  place  in  the 
congregation  to  which  I  was  wont  to  minis- 
ter !  I  look  in  vain  for  this,  and  that, 
and  the  other,  well -remembered  face.  "  The 
fathers,  where  are  they  ?"  and  when  I  think 
how  many,  who  were  wont  to  worship  with 
us,  are  now  mouldering  in  the  grave,  I  can- 
not refrain  from  asking, — "  Why  have  I  been 
spared  ?"  nor  from  thanking  G-od  that  I  have 


56  THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST. 

been  spared  to  greet  you  on  such  an  occasion 
as  this.  Though  still  in  the  prime  of  life,  I 
am,  in  the  providence  of  God,  the  oldest 
surviving  minister  of  this  Church  ;  and  who 
shall  say  that  I  have  not  been  spared  for  some 
good  purpose,  since  I  am  here  this  day  to 
remind  you  of  the  faith  once  delivered  unto 
the  saints — of  the  faith  and  practice  of  your 
fathers — of  the  weighty  scriptural  reasons 
which  led  them  to  cherish  an  attachment  to 
the  doctrine  and  order  of  the  Church,  and  of 
the  motives  which  should  induce  you  to  cordial 
and  steadfast  co-operation  in  all  that  pertains 
to  the  welfare  of  Zion ;  yea,  in  the  name  of 
Him  in  whom  your  fathers  believed,  and  in 
behalf  of  the  Church  of  which  He,  even 
Christ,  is  the  head,  to  bid  you  God  speedy — 
to  incite  you  to  extricate  this  structure  from 
all  pecuniary  incumbrance,  and  to  attend  and 
sustain  the  ministry  here  established. 

For,  though  the  old  edifice  has  given  place 
to  the  new,  the  old  system  of  faith  and  prac- 
tice will  here  remain  ;  though  this  edifice  is 
more  adapted  to  the  taste  of  the  times,  there 


THE     CHURCH     OF    CHRIST.  57 

will  be  in  this  place  no  adaptation  to  the 
skeptical  and  irreligious  temper  of  the 
times.  Your  mental  and  moral  wants  differ 
not  from  theirs  who  have  gone  before  you. 
Your  relations  to  Grod  and  eternity  are  the 
same  as  theirs  were  ;  your  need  of  pardon, 
sanctiiication  and  salvation,  the  same  as 
theirs  ;  death  and  judgment,  heaven  and 
hell,  are  still  the  same  stupendous  realities  I 
We  may  build  a  new  church,  but  we  cannot 
have  a  new  gospel ;  "  for  there  is  none  other 
name  under  heaven  given  among  men, 
whereby  we  must  be  saved."  We  may  dig 
deep  the  foundations,  and  raise  the  walls  in 
massive  strength,  and  secure  "  the  long- 
drawn  aisle  and  fretted  vault,"  and  enjoy 
"  the  dim  relisjious  lis^ht"  streaminsf  throuo:h 
shaded  windows,  and  receive  the  tribute  of 
passers-by  to  the  fitting  order  and  beauty  of 
the  edifice,  but  it  cannot  be  scripturally 
dedicated  to  the  worship  of  our  (jfod  in 
Christ,  unless  we  ourselves  in  spirit  and  by 
faith,  have  built  upon  "  the  foundations  of 


58  THE     CHURCH     OF    CHRIST. 

the  Apostles  and  Prophets,  Jesus  Christ  him- 
self being  the  Chief  Corner  Stone." 

He,  then,  for  whose  service  this  house  has 
been  erected,  is  that  great  and  glorious 
Being  who  has  revealed  his  mind  and  will 
to  us  in  the  Holy  Scriptures — the  triune  God, 
Jehovah.  Here  he  is  to  be  worshipped  in 
sincerity  and  truth,  and  in  the  name  of  Jesus 
Christ  his  Son,  our  Saviour.  Here  the  voice 
of  prayer  and  supplication  for  us  and  all 
men,  is  to  ascend.  Here  God's  praises  are 
to  be  rehearsed  in  exalted  verse.  Here  his 
word  is  to  be  read,  and  his  servants  are  to 
expound  and  inculcate  his  most  holy  will. 
Here  the  holy  rite  of  baptism  is  to  be  admin- 
istered in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the 
Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost-;  and  here,  from 
time  to  time,  the  holy  Eucharist  is  to  be  dis- 
pensed to  the  whole  company  of  the  faithful. 
Here  the  rich  and  the  poor  are  to  meet 
together,  remembering  that  God  is  the  maker 
of  us  all.  Here  you  are  to  come  up  from 
Sabbath  to  Sabbath  to  attend  to  the  things 
which  belong  to  your  everlasting  peace.     No 


THE    CHURCH     OF    CHRIST.  59 

heartlessness  should  ever  mark  the  music  of 
this  sanctuary,  no  hypocrisy  deform  its  wor- 
ship, no  worldliness  approach  its  altar,  no 
pride  of  intellect,  no  love  of  mammon  prosti- 
tute this  desk,  nor  listlessness  obstruct  the 
appropriate  influence  of  the  preached  word 
This  house  has  been  erected  for  G-od's  glory 
and  the  soul's  good. 

Let  us,  then,  rise  and  call  upon  the  name 
of  Grod,  and  in  solemn  prayer,  duly  set  it 
apart    to    the    purposes    which   have    been 

specified. 

****** 

Hoiu  dreadful  is  this  place  !  This  is  none 
other  but  the  house  of  God  I  It  is  God''s 
house — for  his  service  ;  never  to  be  used  for 
any  purpose  not  strictly  scriptural  and  reli- 
gious. God's  house — for  the  regular  Sab- 
batic administration  of  his  most  holy  word 
and  ordinances.  God^s  house — for  -the  wor- 
ship of  his  people,  and  for  his  messenger  of 
grace  to  make  known  here  his  overtures 
of  mercy  to  guilty  men ;  where  you  may- 
assemble — where,  as  often  as  his  holy  day 


60  THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST. 

returns,  you  are  bound,  by  all  that  is  sacred 
and  all  that  is  of  deathless  moment,  to  assem- 
ble ;  and  where,  as  often  as  you  assemble, 
you  are  all  here  jyresent  before  God. 

AYoe  be  to  him  who  shall  ever  stand  here 
and  minister  for  self,  not  for  Grod  ; — to  in- 
culcate damning  error,  not  the  truth  as  it  is  in 
Jesus !  And  woe  be  to  those  who  shall  ever 
pervert  this  house  from  the  purposes  to  which 
it  has  now  been  solemnly  dedicated  ! 

Men  and  brethren,  I  am  no  prophet,  but 
an  unworthy  ambassador  for  Grod  in  Christ  j 
and  in  his  name  I  declare  unto  you  that 
weighty  interests  crowd  aroun.d  this  sacred 
desk.  The  AVord  henceforth  to  be  preached 
from  this  desk,  will  be  "  the  savor  of  life  unto 
life,  or  of  death  unto  death."  While  this 
church  shall  stand,  many  a  soul  will  here  be 
instructed,  and  disciplined,  and  sanctified  for 
heaven ;  or  hardened  in  its  impenitence  and 
unbelief,  and  fitted  for  destruction.  No 
trifling  ceremony  this,  in  which  we  are  en- 
ofa^ed  :  no  transient  interests  are  involved  in 
the  dedication  of  this  church.     As  surely  as 


THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST.  Gl 

Christ  is  the  Head  of  the  body,  so  surely  is 
this  church  connected  with  G-od's  purposes 
of  grace  towards  lost  sinners.  As  surely  as 
there  is  a  heaven  and  a  hell,  so  surely  does 
this  church  bear  a  relation  to  your  endless 
weal  or  woe.  Nay,  this  very  occasion  may 
be  the  occasion  of  endless  joy  or  of  endless 
woe  to  all  of  us  now  assembled. 

Oh  that  the  opening  of  this  new  church 
might  be  the  means  of  opening  every  impeni- 
tent heart  to  the  belief  and  acknowledgment 
of  the  truth  !  Oh  that  this  day  of  dedica- 
tion, my  brethren,  might  be  the  day  of  your 
renewed  devotement  to  God's  service  and 
glory ! 

We  live  at  a  period  of  peculiar  trial  to  all 
Christ's  true  followers — a  period  marked  by 
unbelief,  and  apathy,  and  declensions,  and 
apostasies  :  owing  in  part  to  the  encroach- 
ments of  worldliness  on  the  Church,  to  the 
secularizing  tendency  of  the  times,  and  to  the 
untoward  influence  of  much  that  passes 
under  the  name  of  literature  and  science  ; 
but  chiefly  to  the  "  mystery  of  iniquity" 
which  has  worked   from  the  beginning,  and 

6 


62  THE    CHL'RCH    OF     CHRIST. 

now  works  with  renewed  energy,  and  more 
cunning  craftiness. 

Through  what  untried  scenes  the  Church 
may  be  led,  I  know  not,  nor  will  I  venture 
to  predict ;  but  this  is  certain — if  we  forget 
our  dependence  on  the  Head  of  the  Church, 
he  will  leave  us  to  learn  wisdom  from  the 
bitter  fruits  of  our  own  counsels.  If  we 
pride  ourselves  on  the  intellect  <■[  our  minis- 
try, or  the  piety  of  our  communion,  we  may 
expect  to  see  many  a  great  man  fall,  and 
many  a  zealous  man  declme.  If  we  attach 
more  importance  to  the  things  in  which  we 
differ  from  other  parts  of  the  visible  Church, 
than  to  those  in  which  we  agree — with  all 
our  array  of  scriptural  evidence,  of  historic 
fact,  and  philosophic  induction,  yet  destitute 
of  charity — we  shall  be  "  as  sounding  brass 
and  as  a  tinkling  cymbal.*'  *  If  we  think 
more  of  making  proselytes  io  Presbyterian- 
ism  than  converts  to  Christianity,  we  may 
succeed  ;  but  the  church  where  our  fathers 
worshipped  God,  and  communed  with  Christ. 
and   enjoyed    an  ante-past   of    Heaven,   will 


THE    CHURCH     OF     CHRIST.  63 

become  "a  whited  sepulchre,  full  of  rotten- 
ness and  dead  men's  bones." 

If  we  are  not  on  our  guard  against  the 
speculations  of  a  vain  philosophy,  against  the 
insidious  love  of  gain  and  honor,  against  the 
enervating?  influences  of  luxurious  and  fash- 
ionable  life,  and  the  seductions  of  outward 
show,  we  shall  lose  our  pietf/  as  a  Church ;  and 
then  farewell  to  our  harmony,  our  efficiency, 
our  usefulness  I  With  no  imposing  ceremo- 
nial, with  no  sectarian  prejudices  carefully 
infused  into  the  minds  of  our  children,  no 
superstitious  fears,  no  round  of  outward 
forms  to  which  we  have  become  wedded — 
alas  !  what  are  we.  what  have  we,  if  the 
Spirit  of  G-od  depart  from  us  !  Tell  us  not 
of  our  doctrine,  our  worship,  our  discipline — 
all  will  be  as  cold,  and  unattractive,  and 
inert,  as  this  goodly  framework,  "  so  curi- 
ously and  wonderfully  made,"  after  the  spirit 
has  taken  its  everlasting  flight  ! 

0  be  true  to  the  Church ;  not  by  vaunting 
the  scnptiiral  warrant  of  Presbyterianism, 
but  by  surrendering  yourselves  into  captivity 


64  THE    CHURCH     OF     CHRIST. 

to  the  obedience  of  Christ  the  Head  of  the 
body  ;  not  by  adopting  new  modes  of  faith, 
or  other  ways  of  doing  good,  according  to 
the  humors  of  either  visionary  or  ambitious 
religionists,  but  by  adhering  to  Jesus  Christ, 
"the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life;". not 
by  boasting  of  its  orthodoxy,  nor  by  admiring 
the  simplicity  of  its  worship  ;  but  by  practis- 
ing its  doctrines ;  worshipping  Grod  in  spirit 
and  in  truth  ;  uniting  in  every  good  word 
and  work  ;  strenuously  supporting  your  ordi- 
nances, and  aiming  to  extend  the  knowledge 
of  the  glorious  gospel  of  the  grace  of  God — 
0  yes ;  by  glorifying  G-od  in  his  Church  on 
earth,  that  you  may  be  admitted  to  the 
Church  triumphant,  when  all  the  ransomed 
of  the  Lord,  from  every  portion  of  the  Church 
militant,  shall  enter  Heaven  ivith  songs  and 
everlasting'  joy  upon  their  heads  ! 


